County teams are long shots in 2A West

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006

Not before or since B-CC won the Class 2A state title in 2001, has a Montgomery County girls soccer team won the Class 2A West Region title. North Hagerstown (11-0) is the clear favorite in the region this year, but Montgomery County does have some possible dark-horse contenders in Rockville and Clarksburg.

It’ll be quite a task, though. Neither team will be seeded and they’ll have to trek though a tough field, including 2002 and 2003 state champion Century (8-2-0), South Carroll (5-4-1) and 2005 state finalist Middletown (9-2-1), among others. But there’s a reason games are played on the field, not on paper.

‘‘We’re having a much better season than we did last year and for the last couple years,” Rockville coach Mike Hayes said. ‘‘We’re hoping we can get a good draw and maybe do something in the tournament.”

The Rams (6-6-0) lost to Winters Mill on penalty kicks in the first round of last year’s regional tournament. They’re eager to improve on that result and, given a decent draw, they have a good chance to do so. Rockville has already achieved one goal this season, improving last year’s record by three wins. Led by senior Mel Turner in the midfield, the Rams have learned to control the ball better on offense. They’ve become accustomed to playing with more purpose and organization in the offensive third. Turner leads the team with five goals and six assists and will be an integral part of Rockville’s playoff success. The Rams, who rely on good team speed, will also look for strong performances from sophomore Michelle Carter, junior Katey Webber and freshman goalie Julia Cosmos.

‘‘I hope we can keep some consistency,” Hayes said. ‘‘We’ve gotten to this point but we haven’t been over that hump of winning a playoff game. That’s something we’d like to do this year.”

In just its first year of existence, Clarksburg has counterattacked its way to a respectable 7-6-0 record.